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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

The Six Best Renditions Of "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me"

As we mourn the passing of Hal David, the lyrical genius on the Burt Bacharach/Hal David dream team, we also revisit his timeless contributions to music. Here are the six best renditions of one of his best songs, "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me."

6. Jim O'Rourke (featuring Thurston Moore)Always Something There to Remind Me by Jim O'Rourke on Grooveshark
In 2010, Jim O'Rourke released All Kinds Of People (Love Burt Bacharach), a tribute album that featured musicians he had befriended since relocating to Tokyo ten-ish years prior as well as some old pals from his days as a Chicago experimental music icon. One such buddy was Thurston Moore, a bandmate during O'Rourke's six year stint in Sonic Youth. Moore handles vocals on "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me," which might be the strongest track on All Kinds Of People. It is a fairly straight cover in the Sandie Shaw/Dionne Warwick tradition of the track, but hearing the lyrics sung by the voice of "Teen Age Riot" makes the song somehow perverse.

5. The McCoy Tyner Trio With Symphony(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me by The McCoy Tyner Trio/The Symphony on Grooveshark
Jazz pianist McCoy Tyner paid his respects to the Bacharach/David songbook on his 1997 record What The World Needs Now: The Songs Of Burt Bacharach, a trio album supplemented by an orchestra. Tyner is an inventive pianist who previously pushed John Coltrane to his creative heights, but his take on "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" is a head scratcher. Besides the melodrama of the opening strings, there's nothing conceptually wrong with the track, but the result is uneasy. Whether or not this feeling was intentional, the unsettling atmosphere is a welcome addition to a song that could devolve into tackiness without proper care.
4. Naked EyesAlways Something There To Remind Me by Naked Eyes on Grooveshark
Naked Eyes' new wave cover of this Bacharach/David classic is the most significant rendition since its original 1960s run. By dropping the "(There's)" from the title and converting the song into a triplet feel, the band essentially drew a line in the sand between its version and all those before. Thanks to Naked Eyes, the average person alive today is surprised to find out that this track is even a cover. A cynic could use this fact (which I have no proof of) to rant about ignorance among modern music fans, but you can also argue that the song is such a perfect match for the band - and Naked Eyes owned it so hard - that the group gave it a second life, and is part of why we're still listening to it and talking about it today.